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Below
are some frequently asked questions regarding First-Year Field
Work:
Q. How
is the field program organized?
A. First-year
field placement days are Wednesdays and Fridays beginning around
the second week in October and continuing through the end of April.
There is also a two-hour weekly field seminar (SW 400) on Thursdays
in the Fall semester and an every-other-week field seminar on
Thursdays in the Spring semester. These seminars are scheduled
in sections by fields of practice. Your SW 400 assignments will
be mailed to you in your Fall registration packet. Please be sure
to check your assignment and then register for the section have
you have been assigned to.
During the
first six weeks of the Fall semester, before field work begins,
additional field seminar meetings, field visits and panel are
scheduled on Wednesday and Fridays, so keep these Wednesdays and
Fridays open.
Q. Should
I look for a field placement over the summer?
A. No. Berkeley
is unusual among social work schools in having a staff of faculty
members whose primary assignment is related to field instruction.
You will have a field work consultant who will work with you to
select an appropriate first-year placement. Placement begins in
mid-October, so that we can get to know you and you can get oriented
to the program before field work begins, so there is no hurry
in finding a placement. It is your field work consultant's task
to arrange a first-year placement for you with one of the many
agencies with which we work, based on your interests and the goals
of the program. There is no need for you to look for one on your
own.
Q. How
much choice do I have in the selection of a field setting?
A. In
the first year, your field consultant will meet with you to discuss
your interests and goals and clarify the objectives of first-year
field work within your method and field of practice. The field
staff will then select a placement for you, taking into consideration
your desires, skill level, and their knowledge about what each
setting offers.
In your second
year, you will have an opportunity to select two settings in which
to interview prior to indicating your placement choice. We will
make every effort to accommodate your specialized learning goals
within the diverse pool of second-year settings.
Q. Can
I do my field placement in the agency where I am employed?
A. Field placement
is designed to offer you new learning opportunities in new practice
settings. Some agencies may be large enough to provide such opportunities
for current employees. In order for a placement in your current
place of employment to be approved it must be a new task assignment
for you with a field work instructor who is not your current supervisor.
Your agency must agree to keep your field work distinct from your
regular/previous assignments and not to change your field work
tasks without discussion with the School. We allow students to
do only one of their two years of placement in their place of
employment.
Q. What
if I want to be placed in a setting that the School hasn't approved
for placement?
A. The School
screens agencies carefully and works to develop ongoing relationships
with placement settings. Criteria for placements include the availability
of a Berkeley trained M.S.W. field instructor, availability of
appropriate learning opportunities for students; a clear commitment
by the agency to ongoing student training; and a good "fit"
of the agency with the School's mission and curriculum concentrations.
Agency screening involves several steps that may take months to
complete. For that reason, we will have already identified most
of our first-year placements for the current year. With rare exceptions
new agency initiated requests for interns will be considered for
the following year.
Q. What
are the differences between Children and Families, Health, Community
Mental Health, Gerontology and Management and Planning in terms
of available settings?
A. Children
and Families' agencies are primarily targeted toward actual
or potentially abused or neglected/at-risk children and their
families; poor and homeless families; and services for women.
Placements are made in county departments of social services,
schools and a range of voluntary agencies (child or adolescent
residential treatment, family services, shelters, etc.) that contract
with the county or state or receive grants to serve these populations.
Community
Mental Health services refer to county and contract mental
health, including in-patient and out-patient facilities, residential
treatment, day treatment, and board and care settings. These agencies
may be focused on seriously and chronically mentally-ill children,
adolescents, and/or adults. First-year placements include case
management, mental health treatment, crisis intervention services,
in-patient units in county hospitals, and residential and day-treatment
programs.
Health
services refer to social work in hospitals and other health settings.
Field placements are made in a wide range of settings including
hospitals, pediatric clinics, agencies serving AIDS patients,
public health departments, health maintenance organizations, developmental
disability facilities and hospices.
Gerontology
services refer to social work for and on behalf of the elderly.
Field placements are made in a wide range of settings including
institutional settings such as hospitals and long-term care facilities
as well as in community-based programs such as adult day health
care centers, geriatric mental health programs and family service
agencies.
Placements
for Management and Planning students are available in most
types of social work agencies and also in policy, community development
and planning institutions.
Q. How
far will I have to travel to field work?
A. Most field
settings are located within a radius of approximately 45 miles
of the Campus, mostly in San Francisco, the Peninsula and the
East Bay.
If you have
a condition, which might limit your geographic mobility (e.g.,
a medical condition that limits your travel), and if you have
not already told us this, please do so at the beginning of the
semester. We will do our best to accommodate your needs within
available resources.
Due to traffic
and distances, commuting to placements is likely to involve considerable
time. Also, many placements require travel during the placement
day. Sadly, public transportation in the Bay Area is not very
reliable. Therefore, it is important that you provide yourself
with a dependable car, if at all possible. Please be sure to budget
for gas, tolls, insurance and maintenance.
If you do
not have a car or cannot drive, public transportation is available
to some agencies and there are some settings in which the work
does not require much travel. However, if you don't have a car,
placement options become much more limited.
Q. Can
I be paid for field work?
A. A
few first-year placements have training stipends; more are available
for second-year students (these may involve extra requirements).
Also, agencies may provide non- placement related, part-time employment
The School
encourages placement agencies to participate in the work-study
program, and some students have work-study eligibility as part
of their finiancial aid package. If you are hoping to get a paid
placement you will need to look into your work-study eligibility.
For information
on becoming work-study eligible, contact the Financial Aid Office
at (510)641-0485 AND attend the Financial Aid Presentation offered
during Welcome Week.
Q. Do any
agencies require health screens and, if so, how are they paid
for?
A. Some
of our placement sites do require health screening. These are
primarily, but not exclusively, health care settings where students
are in contact with patients. The most common type of required
screening is for T.B., but some placements also require a general
physical examination. In addition, if you are likely to have an
internship in a hospital setting, it is a good idea to be immunized
for Hepatitis B. As most placement sites expect students to have
health screens at their own expense, we suggest that you take
advantage of any current health coverage you may have to resolve
this matter before the Fall.
Q. Can
I work part time?
A. We
are fully aware of the economic realities of attending U.C. and
of living in the Bay Area. Most students find it necessary to
work at least some of the time during their graduate education.
On the other hand, with two to three days of field work on top
of classes, reading and papers, this is an extremely demanding
major. Based on what students tell us about their experiences
we recommend that you work as little as possible especially during
the first semester. If you do work, you will need to schedule
your hours to avoid any conflicts with classes or field placement.
Although placement does not begin until October, there will be
other required field seminar activities on those days from the
beginning of the semester. If you have financial aid, you should
inquire as to how part-time employment may effect your eligibility.
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